R0b1n H00d
by Sarah Haywood
Summary: [previously Mara and Robin] Mara and Robin meet and fall in love at a summer camp for disadvantaged kids. Somehow, these lovers seem a little star cross'd... Does true love conquer all, or is that too archaic for a modern Robin Hood?
1. Camp Sherwood

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Forgive me.  
  
Hello, this is my newest story. Please enjoy and forgive me if this first chapter is too long... oh well. I'll work on my other stories soon, I promise. This idea just popped into my head one day. Enjoy!  
  
~sugarsprite~  
  
~*~  
  
As I exit the white van, I shiver, despite the fact that it's mid-June. The camp is really weird. It's near a lake, there's a small field for games and stuff, but there is no row of wooden cabins, just a large concrete building. My social worker, Dave, gently takes me and my baggage by the shoulders and guides me into the revolving door, escaping the light drizzle that had slightly dampened my luggage and hair.  
  
'They must think I'm made of porcelain,' I think bitterly as Dave leads me to the front desk. I shake his hands off my shoulders, my duffle bag bumping my shins.  
  
An old woman in an ugly cardigan sits at a desk, shuffling papers. I stop and look back at Dave, who takes the hint and introduces me.  
  
"Erm... hello, I'm David Mantosky, this is Marian." I nudge him; he knows I hate that name. "Err... she goes by Mara, Mara Fitzwalter."  
  
The old woman gives me the 'well, aren't you special,' glance. Dave touches my arm in a warning; he knows how much I hate being gazed at like that.  
  
I am fascinated by the horrendousness of this lady's cardigan. It is a vivid magenta with lime green zigzags. There are little white lambs that graze on the zigzags, with bells sewn into the knitted fabric around their necks, and when she moves, the bells tinkle.  
  
The cardigan and the old lady get out of their chair. I can hear her bones creaking and I want to run away. Dave is standing nearby, so I decide not to. She walks the old shuffling elderly walk, tacky little bells tinkling through a white linoleum hallway. I shudder again. This whole camp reminds me of a hospital.  
  
We get into an elevator, and I look at the woman again. I notice that her shoes match her sweater. I wonder where she gets her clothes. The elevator stops, giving my stomach a lurch that always reminds me of roller coasters. The little lighted numbers above the door say we're on the third floor. A bell inside the elevator dings, and the chrome doors open to another landing.  
  
This floor is different than the first. For one, there are actually children here. They all are the ages of four to seven and involved in some sort of game, so they're running and jumping about. The old lady tells them they should be in their rooms, and they stick out their tongues at her and continue playing. I decide I like them. The old lady mutters about how the counselors don't do enough, and how rude kids are these days.  
  
She takes me down a hallway littered with children's toys. She steps on a Barbie by accident, breaking its arm off. I pick it up and put the arm back into place. Dave looks at me strangely, and I tell him I would have hated to find my favorite toy broken. He nods, and then makes me follow cardigan lady into the room I will sleep in for the next few months.  
  
The room is simply furnished. There is a desk in a corner, a television on top of a dresser, and two beds in the centre of the room. There is a door leading off to a bathroom on the left as we enter. A boy sits cross-legged on one of the beds. He is deeply involved in reading an old looking book, and he doesn't even look up when we come in.  
  
"Hello Robin," the elderly lady says, "This is Marian..."  
  
"Mara," I interrupt.  
  
The lady plows on, ignoring my comment, "She will be your roommate for a while. Make her feel at home, alright?"  
  
"Mm-hmm..." Robin answers, not looking up.  
  
Dave has some paperwork to go over with The Fashion-Senseless One. I am left alone with Robin.  
  
He puts down his book and looks at me. "Why are you standing in the doorway?" he asks.  
  
"I don't know," I reply, and sit on the unoccupied bed, dumping my bag beside it. After a pause, "What are you reading?" I ask.  
  
He shows me the cover of his book. "The Adventures of Robin Hood." He says. I notice a faded illustration of a man in green cocking an arrow on a large bow. "Is it any good?" I ask curiously.  
  
"Wonderful," he says happily, "Have you read it?"  
  
"No. I've never even heard of it."  
  
He looks horrified, "Never heard of Robin Hood?!" he asks in disbelief. "You don't know what you're missing!" he hands me the book. "Read it," he orders, "I've already read it twenty seven times already..." he pauses to think, "No... that'll take too long, I have the DVD."  
  
"Really?" I ask.  
  
"Yep." He goes to the chest of drawers and takes out a yellow DVD case from underneath a few shirts. On the front, it has a picture of an attractive man laughing. Underneath him is a smaller picture of a beautiful woman smiling meekly.  
  
"Why do you hide it?" I ask, curiously.  
  
"It's so one of the kids, Guy, doesn't take it. Lots of my stuff mysteriously makes its way to his room, so I take precautions with my favorites."  
  
He slips the DVD into the player on the TV. It hums for a while, and then a lively march plays as we start the movie. Robin sings along.  
  
"Dum daaaa dadada da daa daaaaa, dum daaaa dadada da daaa." He sings, and then remembers me. He laughs and begins to sing again. As the march changes to a slower song, he stops, and we both laugh.  
  
The door opens, and Dave comes to tell me goodbye. Robin hits the pause button. "Well Mara, I'm glad you made a friend." Dave says. I can tell he is amazed that I have. I'm not a very social person. "I'm going home now, but I'll come up to see how you're doing on the weekends, okay?"  
  
Suddenly, I don't want Dave to go. I go up to him, and he puts his arms around me. "I'll miss you," he whispers in my hair. "Mara, don't hesitate to call me at home if there's a problem, okay?" he breaks the embrace and holds me at arms length. "See you on Sunday."  
  
I nod, and I hug him one more time. "Bye." I say sadly. He walks out of the room. I go to the window, and wait until I see his van go back onto the highway  
  
"Is he your dad?" Robin asks, turning the movie back on.  
  
"No, my social worker."  
  
"Oh." We watch in silence. The Adventures of Robin Hood is set in medieval times and is about this knight who becomes an outlaw to fight tyranny and this weird prince who wants to be king. He also falls in love with this haughty rich woman called Marian who is against him at first. It's a beautiful movie, and I feel myself falling in love with the story of Robin Hood.  
  
"When was this made?" I ask, looking at the vivid green, reds, and blues filling the screen.  
  
"1938," he says, "This was one of the first movies in color. Technicolor is a great thing."  
  
"Indeed," I say, laughing, but I want to get back to the story, as Robin and Marian are kissing.  
  
We're just finishing the movie when the bell for dinner rings. "Damn it," growls Robin. "I wanted to show you some of the extras. Oh well, you'll probably get the whole welcome speech thing tonight, and we'll find out why we haven't done anything at all today."  
  
He gets up slowly and walks to the door. "Ladies first," he says with a sweeping bow. I giggle and walk out of the room to the elevator.  
  
As we enter the dining hall, I notice a burly man standing at the doorway. He could loose a few pounds, is balding, and wears cowboy boots. I can see dislike on Robin's face when he sees at whom I am looking.  
  
We get in line for food. The line goes relatively quickly, and soon Robin and I are getting cheeseburgers dumped on our little plastic trays. As I go to get a drink, I overhear Robin tuning down the quarter-pounder the cafeteria woman she has put on his tray. He gets salad instead.  
  
We sit down at a table that reminds me of elementary school. Robin engages me in conversation about the movie we have been watching when we are joined by a skinny African-American boy and a really tall girl with bright pink spiky hair.  
  
"Will! Joan! I missed you guys!" Robin exclaims with a grin on his face. "This is Mara, my roommate." He says, referring to me. "How have you been?"  
  
"Fine, what about you?" says pink-haired Joan, "We've missed you since last summer."  
  
"I've missed you too. Are you guys roommates again?" Robin asks, taking a bite of lettuce with his plastic fork.  
  
"Yup, they did it alphabetically again..." Will answers, grinning. Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by a loud voice that boomed through the dining hall.  
  
"Welcome to Camp Sherwood!" the owner of the voice is the overweight man in cowboy boots I had noticed before. He speaks with a distinct southern twang. "Here, disadvantaged kids from all the fifty states meet to have a good time!"  
  
Disadvantaged? Well, I know this camp was for kids with problems, but this guy is tactless. We come here not to be reminded that we are disadvantaged. In fact, this whole place is tactless. It's far too much like a hospital.  
  
"My name is Sheriff Geoffrey, but y'all can just call me Sheriff! I'm here to make sure that you're all just havin' the time of your lives!"  
  
Robin laughs into his salad. He bows his head down so no one but us can hear and whispers to us, "Yeah, we're just havin' the time of our lives!" he mimics. "Just a-sittin' in our rooms all afternoon doin' nothin'!" We all giggle silently.  
  
The Sheriff continues, oblivious to the fact that Robin is mocking him. "Your days'll go like this, in the mornin' you'll have a swimmin' lesson in the lake. Then you get to do an elective, like art, sports, or canoein', then, y'all will have lunch. Then, you can go to your rooms for free time and or counselin', then dinner, then campfire, then bed!"  
  
"Oh joy!" Robin says sarcastically.  
  
"Now, since it's raining, we can't have campfire tonight, so y'all can have more free time. But you can sure as hell bet we're gonna have it tomorrow! So as soon as y'all finish your supper, you can go back to your rooms!" the Sheriff sits down and attacks his cheeseburger.  
  
When we finish our dinner, we go back up in the elevator with Joan and Will.  
  
"So, why are you in this hell-hole?" Joan asks me.  
  
"Honestly, Joan." Will says. "That comment was almost as tactless as when the sheriff called us 'disadvantaged'."  
  
Joan goes as about as pink as her hair. "Well, you know I didn't mean it like that..." the elevator dings and we step off onto the landing.  
  
I sigh. "I don't mind. I'm here for a lot of reasons, really. My parents divorced when I was seven, and neither one could afford to keep me. My mom ended up with me in the end, and she re-married a bastard..."I stop and suddenly realize I don't want to talk about it anymore.  
  
Robin looks at me with understanding and changes the subject for me. "Hey Joan, did you bring the posters you had last year?"  
  
"Yeah, you and Mara want to help decorate our room?"  
  
"Sure." I say, glad not to have to talk about it anymore.  
  
We walk into a room near Robin's and mine. It has the exact same furniture, but that's about all that's the same about our rooms. Will's and Joan's room is like a war zone on one half, and absolutely pristine on the other. Joan digs about under the mess for a while, and then unearths a black sports bag. "Aha! Success!"  
  
Will rolls his eyes. "Joan, you know girls are generally cleaner than boys."  
  
"Well, that proves you shouldn't pay attention to stereotypes." Joan digs in her bag for a moment. "Here they are!" she exclaims holding up a bunch of rolled up posters and tacks.  
  
"Thanks," Robin says and takes a few. He gives me a 'Nightmare before Christmas' poster and four tacks and gets to work putting his 'Nirvana' one up on her wall.  
  
"You like 'The Nightmare before Christmas'?" I ask tacking it above her bed, "I love that movie!"  
  
"Really? Me too!" she starts to sing in a strange, creaky voice, "Making Christmas, Making Christmas, MAKING CHRISTMAS!!!!"  
  
Robin laughs, "That's not bad. You should audition for 'weird creature number five'."  
  
"She's already a weird creature!" pipes in Will.  
  
We all laugh. I'm surprised. When we all are in the same boat, it's not too hard to make friends.  
  
Joan comes up to me. "I'm sorry if I offended you or anything... I just wanted to know why you're here. I mean... no offence or anything... but you seem really normal. A nice normal, not the boring normal or anything."  
  
"No," I say, flattered by her apology, "I understand."  
  
She grins, "Well, I'm glad you do. Hey, you want to watch 'A Nightmare Before Christmas' tomorrow at free time?"  
  
"Yeah, that would be great!" I say. We finish the rest of the posters in a good mood, with jokes and fake insults going in between Will and Joan.  
  
Robin coughs, and then says. "I'm going back to our room, I'm REALLY tired. You want to come, Mara?" He looks at Will and Joan in the eye. I notice a strange feeling going between them. But before I can ask what they're up to Robin walks out of the room and back to ours.  
  
Robin goes to the dresser and removes a laptop computer from underneath a few pairs of pants.  
  
"Wow!" I say. Most kids here, including me, have never used a laptop before, being too poor to use one.  
  
"It's an old version. I got it from my mother two years ago, after she died."  
  
"I'm sorry." I say, nervously.  
  
"It's okay. She was really sick. It was her time to go." Robin sighs unhappily. "It was her who got me into computers."  
  
"Cool."  
  
"It's not as advanced as some of the other ones out today, but it works." He looks at his computer with a tinge of pride. I smile. He smiles back at me. "You're really nice, Mara." he says, blushing.  
  
"Thanks. You are too." I feel my cheeks warm. I am suddenly aware how handsome Robin is. He has sandy hair, and green eyes that I feel can look into my soul. I wonder how I never noticed it before. He gazes at me in a strange way, and it makes me feel good to have him look at me.  
  
A knock at our door interrupts my musing. "Bedtime." The muffled voice of a counselor tells us. Robin looks away, embarrassed.  
  
Dutifully, I switch off the light. Robin takes the remote to the television and switches it on to the News.  
  
"It's ten fifty-five" the attractive female anchor says in a perky voice. "And we have just received information about the latest escapade of the notorious hacker..."  
  
I grab my pajamas and go into the adjoining bathroom. I brush my teeth and slip into my sleepwear, then return into the room I share with Robin.  
  
"...the weather for tomorrow will be partly cloudy, a high of 90 degrees..." Robin switches off the News, smiling. He grabs his pajamas and slips into the bathroom. I slide into bed and snuggle into the sheets. I hear Robin re- enter from the bathroom, but by then I'm almost asleep.  
  
~Mara sat in her bedroom in the moonlight, listening to her mother cry. Steve had come home drunk again, and had taken out his issues with finding work out on her mother. Mara hugged her knees, hating Steve. She hated her father too, for not wanting her. Steve was yelling for her mother to make him something to eat, and she heard her mother rise from her bed. The stairs creaked and she heard her mother's soft voice murmur something, then Steve's loud drunken yell. Mara took down her stuffed elephant that she had had since birth from the shelf.  
  
"Rosie," she said to her toy elephant, "you don't like Steve either, do you."  
  
In the light it seemed as if Rosie was nodding.  
  
"Don't worry, Rosie, I'll protect you." Mara told her best friend and hugged her close to her. She took the metal key inside Rosie and twisted it, and she listened to the tinkling chimes of the music box secreted inside the stuffed animal. That music, though she didn't know the name of the song, had always calmed her. When her mother and father had been together they had always winded the music box inside Rosie right before she went to sleep. Mara crawled into her bed and fell asleep.~ 


	2. Swimming Test

Disclaimer: I've sent all my wombats from my wombat pit in search of the rights to Robin Hood, but they aren't doing very well. Alas! I still don't own RH.  
  
A/N: The Fluff club went great, didn't it! Well, here's the second chapter, enjoy!  
  
~*~  
  
I wake to the annoying voice of Sheriff Geoffrey playing on the intercom. I moan and get out of bed, searching for my bag with all my clothes. The Sheriff is still positively shouting, "Rise an' shine, campers. Time for y'all to take your swimmin' test!" I dig in my bag, looking for my black and white swimsuit. Robin is still sleeping like a rock. I grin; he seems cute when he's asleep. I hate to wake him up, but...  
  
"Uhhhhhhh..." Robin moans as I lightly shake him, "g'way"  
  
"Wake up..."  
  
"Leemeelone"  
  
"Robin!" I say, annoyed. He really ought to be waking up.  
  
He pulls the pillow over his head.  
  
Desperate times call for desperate measures...  
  
I get the CD player that Dave got me for Christmas out of my bag and find one of my CDs with the hardest rock on it. I quietly put the CD in the player, and then put the headphones over Robin's ears, turning the player to full volume.  
  
Robin sits up straight as a poker and forces the headphones, which are now blaring electric guitars as loud as any normal rock concert would, off his ears. He looks quite frightened.  
  
"What was that?!"  
  
I grin, "My secret weapon."  
  
Robin rubs the sleep from his eyes, "It certainly works." He gets out of bed and walks into the bathroom, carrying a heap of clothes.  
  
I sit on his bed, laughing, and notice that I'm sitting on something rather uncomfortable As I reach out to remove the something, Robin exits the bathroom, wearing a pair of green swimming trunks and a tee shirt over his torso.  
  
"You ready?" he asks.  
  
I dig in my bag and remove a sarong and a pair of cheap plastic flip flops. Slipping the sandals on my feet, I leave the room, tying the sarong around me as we go.  
  
When we emerge from the hospital-like main building, I realize I had forgotten how warm North Carolina can be in the summer. I'm sweating in minutes.  
  
Joan and Will run up from behind, both sporting bathing suits showcasing their opposite personalities. Will's is a pure white, highlighting his dark skin in a contrast that makes him look quite attractive. Joan, on the other hand wears a black bikini top with a scraggly black skirt like thing as the bottom. Seeing her so scantily clad, I realize why she's here.  
  
Joan has light scars adorning her arms and legs, and she has a stained bandage wrapped around her left forearm. The word 'cutter' forms in my mind. It comes to me that if I can tell so easily why she is at a camp for damaged merchandise; it might be just as easy for her to see why I'm here. I squirm uncomfortably.  
  
"C'mon, I'll race you to the dock!" Joan shouts and runs past us. Happy to abandon my thoughts, I race after her.  
  
She wins, having a head start, but I come close behind. Will is comes a close third, grumbling about how Joan cheated, but Robin is far behind us. When he catches up, he is sweating hard and clutching his chest, visibly exhausted.  
  
I look at him with concern; seriously, it was only about a hundred yards that he had to run.  
  
"I'm...fine...just a little... out of breath..." he pants, and sits down on the wet grass near the dock. I sit down next to him, wondering...  
  
"Hello y'all!" the Sheriff says in his annoyingly perky voice. "Do any of you know how ta swim?!"  
  
The ten year olds and younger reply to his question enthusiastically. All the teens look down upon this display with disgust.  
  
"Well, ta find out your po-tential we're gonna have a little swimmin' test!" the sheriff removes his "support President John Plantagenet" tee- shirt and reveals his less than attractive chest. Will pretends to gag. Robin, on the other hand, looks stressed.  
  
"What's wrong?" I whisper in his ear.  
  
"Nothing," he whispers back, "I just can't hold my breath very well."  
  
"'Kay!" the sheriff exclaims, whipping out a clipboard. "Here we go!" he begins to read off the names on the list, mispronouncing most.  
  
"Allan Adale,"  
  
A preteen boy jumps off the dock, diving sloppily into the brown water. I notice Robin stifling a yawn. Why is he so tired?  
  
"Dickon Edler,"  
  
A tiny kid runs off the dock.  
  
Two more names, then...  
  
"Marian Fitzwalter,"  
  
I run across the sun bleached boards of the dock and dive perfectly into the water. The murky liquid is cool, and the feeling of being weightless so intoxicating I wish I could stay underwater forever. To compensate I try to stay under for as long as I can hold my breath, arms pulling me through the lake. I surface and fill my lungs with humid air, keeping my eyes closed.  
  
"Robert Fitzooth,"  
  
I open my eyes in time to see Robin carefully jump in the water. He looks positively frightened, and I see him surface, gasping for air. I swim towards him, and as I draw nearer I see how out of his element he is. He splutters, and instead of keeping himself up out of the water, I see him claw at the air, as if a magic rope is somehow going to appear and drag him out of the lake. I swim towards him faster, wondering why the Sheriff isn't helping.  
  
"Guy Guisborne,"  
  
That fool. He keeps his eyes on the list of names and ignores the campers.  
  
"Help!" I shout.  
  
"Anna Godfrey,"  
  
The Sheriff ignores my cry and goes on with his precious little list.  
  
"Robin!" I call over the water.  
  
Robin can't hear me. He's fainted and sunk beneath the surface of the lake.  
  
"Shit," I murmur, and turn myself upside down in the water, searching with my hands for my roommate. I open my eyes, but I can't see very far at all due to the cloudiness of the lake water. My lungs feel like they're going to explode, so I come up for a breath.  
  
"Joan Little,"  
  
I see Joan jump in the water, heading straight for me and Robin. She's seen what's going on.  
  
I dive down once more, searching...  
  
Searching...  
  
My hand brushes against something... hair. I mentally shudder but pull the hair with all my might. I manage to push my head up into the air for a breath. Joan has just reached me. I pull the hair, but I'm not strong enough to get Robin's head up from under the water, so Joan dives under and pushes him. Together we manage to bring Robin's unconscious form up onto the surface of the lake. He coughs about half the lake onto my bathing suit.  
  
"HELP!!!!" Joan screams over the water, shaking the water out of her pink locks. The Sheriff looks up and utters an exclamation of horror, then jumps into the water. He swims faster than I would think possible for a man of his bulk, and soon has Robin on his back and is swimming for shore.  
  
By the time I reach the dock, Robin is already inside the doors of the hospital like camp.  
  
~Mara sat in the car, swinging her legs to the beat of the music playing on the radio. She looked out the window and watched the fields and houses gradually dissolve into swampland. Mara had been to the seashore before, when her parents had been together, but this was the first time since her mother had married Steve.  
  
She stepped out onto the hot tarmac, her flip-flops filling with sand almost instantly. Her mother took her hand, and together they walked along the boardwalk.  
  
"Can I go?" Mara asked.  
  
Her mother nodded, and Mara was off. She kicked off her flip-flops and ran into the water. It was cool, and Mara loved the way it felt on her burnt toes. She jumped in the waves, slipped underneath and played mermaids, and chased fish.  
  
Her mother looked on Mara's merriment happily. "Steve, honey, I'm going to the bathroom, 'kay?"  
  
Steve didn't look up from his novel, "mmm hmmm..." he murmured.  
  
Mara ran up to the beach towel and grabbed a floatie. She ran back into the water happily, and sat on the noodle, her toes lightly touching the sandy bottom of the sea.  
  
Suddenly the waves picked up, and Mara lost sight of Steve and his beach towel. She found herself drifting further and further out to sea. Terror overcame her.  
  
"HELP!!!!" she screamed at the top of her small lungs. "MAMA, HELP ME!" In her terror, she lost her grip on the floatie. She thought she was doomed. A wave swept her up, and she caught sight of her mother returning to the beach towels. She swam as hard as she could towards her. Her arms pumped and her legs kicked against the salty water. She learned to synchronize her swimming with the waves, and only was swept under twice. As she felt her feet collide with the bottom, she felt a surge of relief hit her harder than any of the waves.  
  
"Mama!" she shouted and rushed into her arms.  
  
"Mara, where were you?!" her mother exclaimed.  
  
"Nowhere." She said after a pause. "I was nowhere, mom."  
  
"Well, don't scare me like that!"  
  
Mara never knew why she didn't tell her mother what had happened. All she knew was she could never depend on her again.~ 


	3. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Disclaimer: Fools! I own Robin Hood! You must all BOW DOWN TO ME!!!!!  
  
gets attacked by the nice men it the white coats  
  
Alright. I admit it... I sniff lied to you. I'm sowwy.  
  
I enter my room, and Robin is sitting on his bed, looking bored. It has been two days since he almost drowned, and I have been worrying quite a bit.  
  
Impulsively I run and hug him. He smells like the cleaning solution people in hospitals spray everywhere. He feels limp in my arms.  
  
"Missed you, Mara." He says quietly into my shoulder.  
  
"I missed you too." I say, pulling away so I can look at him properly. He looks worn out. His hair is disheveled and his eyes are dull.  
  
"I hate hospitals." He confides, looking even more tired.  
  
"Me too." I agree lamely. He looks into my eyes, as if he were reading me like one of his books. His eyes look strange, alive with a trust and exhausted passion. I can't bring myself to look away.  
  
"Mara?" he asks in a weird way, "Can you keep a secret?"  
  
"Uh... I think so..."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
I nod, confused.  
  
Suddenly Joan and will burst into our room and Robin stops short.  
  
"Robin!" they shout and hug him.  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"Was the hospital bad this time?"  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine." He says and sits down on the bed. "Just tired, that's all." He sighs. "I need to sleep tonight." He states deliberately, looking at Joan and Will.  
  
"Yeah, that's fine," says Will, putting a skinny arm around Robin.  
  
"I have the Nightmare Before Christmas." Joan says, producing a DVD case from her pants pocket. "We saved it 'till you got back. You wanna watch?"  
  
"Sure!" Robin exclaims in what seems to be an attempt to be excited about something.  
  
"I love this movie." Will says. "I used to watch this all the time when I was a little kid."  
  
"I do too." I put in, "I used to watch it when I was sick. My mom would put it on and I would drink cranberry juice."  
  
Joan slips the stop-action musical into the slot. We all sit on Robin's bed to watch it.  
  
"Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems..."  
  
I tentatively look at Robin. He has reclined on his bed, his back against the wall, his long thin legs stretched in between Will and Joan. I move over beside him.  
  
"In a place perhaps, you have seen in your dreams..."  
  
As we watch, a pumpkin door opens to a Halloween land and strange creatures sing about Halloween. They sing about what Halloween is, and introduce themselves as "the one hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red." The king of the strange land is a skeleton who is bored with Halloween.  
  
"Yet somewhere deep inside of these bones, an emptiness began to grow..." he sings, walking in a misty graveyard.  
  
Robin reaches out with his fingers and finds my hand.  
  
I feel a kind of thrill go through my entire body.  
  
"There's something out there far from my home, a longing that I've never known."  
  
"Robin." I whisper into his ear.  
  
"I... I'm sorry." He says, letting go of my hand, a red flush creeping across his handsome face. "I didn't mean to... I just..."  
  
"No." I tell him, and pick his hand up again. "Don't be sorry."  
  
He looks at me in wonder, and I realize why I've been missing Robin so much. As Joan and Will watch the skeleton sing about how dull his life is, Robin takes my hand and presses it to his lips.  
  
The shudder returns. Wow. I think...  
  
I think I REALLY like him.  
  
I hold his hand for the rest of the movie. It finishes spectacularly, with the pumpkin king pledging his love to the girl who has loved him all the time.  
  
"My dearest friend, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you by your side Where we can gaze into the stars And sit together, Now and forever, For it is plain As anyone can see, We're truly meant to be."  
  
I look down at Robin. He's fallen asleep.  
  
His sandy hair falls over his closed eyes. His breathing is steady and soft. His face is pale, as if he hasn't seen the sun much in his life.  
  
I release my grip of his hand and he moans in his sleep.  
  
"G'night Mara, g'night Robin." Will says on his way out the door.  
  
The door shuts.  
  
I am alone with the sleeping form of the guy I've just figured out I like. Really, really like....  
  
Maybe not just like... maybe love.  
  
He moans again and rolls over onto his side. I stoke his hair away from his face, looking him over. I get up so I can get ready for bed.  
  
I remove my shirt and pull on my pajamas. I get into the bed I have slept in for almost a week now.  
  
"Dave tomorrow." I think as I drift off to sleep.  
  
...  
  
Steve and Mara's mother divorced, and Mara was glad to see him go. He made her mother cry, and he was an idiot.  
  
Mara sat in her sixth grade Latin class and ignored her teacher. He rambled on and on about Romulus and Remus, Tarquinus Superbus and the uses of the ablative case. Mara listened, the words going through one ear and out the other.  
  
Mara doodled on her notebook. She drew the She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus, her tail covering the baby twins' naked little bodies with a warm fur blanket.  
  
"Marian?"  
  
Mara didn't look up.  
  
"Marian?"  
  
She added teeth to her wolf.  
  
"Marian!"  
  
"Mmm?" she looked up.  
  
"Glad to have you with us, Marian." the teacher laughed. "Now, would you translate, 'Hodie est dies veneris, et Marian semisomna est'"  
  
"Today is Friday and Marian is half asleep." She said in a monotone.  
  
"Very good." The teacher turned back to the blackboard.  
  
Mara struggled through another fifteen minutes then lost interest again. She spent the remainder of the class looking at the clock, willing it to hurry up so she could get out and go home.  
  
The bell rang. She hurried to collect her belongings. She dashed out the door of the schools and onto the bus.  
  
"More! More!" came the cries from the next room when Mara returned home. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought of what her mother had degraded herself to in order to get money for rent.  
  
She pulled out her science textbook and began her homework.  
  
"Volcanoes are where the mantle meets the earth's crust and they leak. Magma is the molten rock inside the volcano. Lava is what you call it when the volcano erupts. When lava cools, it forms an igneous rock."  
  
She finished the worksheet with ease, trying desperately to ignore the disgusting sounds next door.  
  
"Mara, would you come in here?"  
  
"I'm busy."  
  
"Mara!" shouted her mother.  
  
But Mara had already walked out the door. 


	4. Hackers

Hey-lo!

This is the long awaited explaining chapter #1

It explains,

1. Why Mara and Robin share a bedroom.

2. Why Will, Joan and Robin are friends.

3. Other stuff that most people already guessed that I'm not going to tell you because it would make the chapter boring.

Yup. This'll be a good 'un.

Enjoy!

* * *

_"In other news, President John Plantagenet has made yet another cut to education and health care for more weapons funding. He made no statement other than 'It is necessary for our defense program.'"  
_  
"mmmph..." I murmur, opening one eye. The TV is on, and the news is playing very quietly.  
  
_"The hacker known only as R0b1n H00d struck again last night, stealing over five million dollars from various government programs. In the past he has stolen from many various John Plantagenet supporters, including the multi- billionaires, Miles Guisborne, Bishop Harold Hereford, and Bill Dickon. We only wonder what he does with all the money he pillages with his 'white arrow virus.'"  
_  
"Huh!" I hear Robin's voice say indignantly, "they haven't even mentioned your brilliant newer virus, Will."  
  
"Wha-?" I say, still half asleep.  
  
"Shit!" Joan moans unhappily. "Why'd you have to talk so loud, Robin?!"  
  
"What's going on?!" I ask, almost fully awake.  
  
"Nothing." Will says , "Go back to bed."  
  
"No! Tell me what's going on?!" I almost shout.  
  
"SHHHHH!!!!!" they all say, panicking.  
  
"What's going on?!!!" I ask, much more quietly. "Why're you in our room?"  
  
"No reason," "Nothing!" Will and Joan say together.  
  
"It's okay, guys" Robin says, running his fingers through his hair, "I was going to tell her anyway."  
  
They stop arguing.  
  
There is a long pause before Robin speaks.  
  
"Mara, do you remember what happened last summer?"  
  
I nod, "Richard Plantagenet was murdered." It had been headline news all summer. One morning in July, the President of the United States just disappeared from his bed. He was found two days later shot in the head three times.  
  
"Then his brother took over." Robin says.  
  
"Yeah, he was the Vice-President." Will growls. "Big mistake on Richard's part. He's gotta be the worst president of all time."  
  
"I know all this!" I say impatiently "What does it have to do with anything?!"  
  
"Well, Will, Robin and I all met last year at camp." Joan tells me. "And we decided that we had to do something about our new president."  
  
"Robin and I are pretty good with computers. I hacked my first system right after I got my computer." Will says.  
  
"And I can make animated cartoons pretty easily" says Joan, "so we decided that we would hack into the systems of John's most prominent supporters, steal their money, and leave them with nothing but a flash cartoon."  
  
"You're...you're robbers?!" I ask incredulously.  
  
"Not really." Will replies, "We don't keep the money we steal."  
  
"No." Robin says, "Not a penny. It all goes to charity."  
  
"Huh?" I ask, bewildered. "I've heard of you, of course. You're... R0b1n h00d?"  
  
"Yep." Robin answers.  
  
"Will and Robin were in the same bedroom last year, and it was a lot easier to manage." Says Joan, "They would've been in the same room again, but the Sheriff..." she starts to laugh.  
  
"I'm sure you've wondered why you and Joan are the only people in the entire camp with male roommates." Robin comments.  
  
"You...um...You know I'm gay, right?" Will asks in a rush.  
  
"...No... I ...er...didn't." I reply awkwardly. I hadn't known...but somehow I realize it doesn't matter.  
  
Now Robin on the other hand...  
  
Will continues with his story, "Oh... well, I am. I came out of the closet last year to my psychologist, and since Robin and I were roommates, well..."  
  
"She assumed we were lovers." Robin finishes Will's sentence. "It was because we spent so much time together."  
  
"Were you lovers?"  
  
"What do you think, Mara?!" replies Robin sarcastically.  
  
"I had a small crush on him in the beginning, but I moved on to greener pastures," Will confesses, "I like Alan Adale now."  
  
"Anyway, his psychologist told Sheriff Geoffrey, and the Sheriff publicly humiliated them in front of the whole camp." Joan tells me, "Guy's been picking on them ever since."  
  
"They separated us immediately, and we've had girls for roommates ever since." They all laugh, then get serious again, "We have had to keep our meetings at night though, which is a big pain."  
  
"The only reason is because the Sheriff is a homophobic bastard." Joan says hotly.  
  
"This is a little hard to take in." I say, getting flustered. "So you're all hackers, Will's gay, and I'm roommates with a guy because he's generally known to be gay too?"  
  
"Yep." Robin replies. "But I'm straight, Mara." He adds in an annoyed, sarcastic way.  
  
"Okay." I say hotly, "I believe you."  
  
There's a long pause.  
  
"Now," says Joan after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, "What're we going to do with Mara?"  
  
"Could you help us?" Will asks, referring to the hacking of computers.  
  
"I doubt it. I can barely type." I say, truthfully.  
  
"Can you draw?" asks Joan.  
  
"Not really," I tell her, "if you want stick figures..."  
  
"Hmm..." Robin thinks, his brow furrowing. He looks cute when he's thinking. "Do you know how to do online research?"  
  
I nod, remembering a class I had to take upon entering high school.  
  
"Great... I have an idea."

* * *

"Sheriff?" I ask the camp director next morning, "Do you mind if I do a special project instead of other camp activities?"  
  
He exhales, his rancid breath fills my nostrils and I resist the urge to flee. "What kinda project d'you mean?"  
  
I take a deep breath and repeat the lie Robin told me to say to him, "well, I wanted to do a research project on John Plantagenet."  
  
"Really?" he asks.  
  
"Oh yes, I love him." I feel disgusted at myself for saying those words, "I should think he is the best president since George Washington."  
  
"I agree." He grins, revealing crooked yellow teeth. "So you wanna do a project on him, huh? Well, I think that could be arranged."  
  
"Oh good!" I say, trying to look excited. "When can I start?"  
  
"Well, let's see...hows about tomorrow?"  
  
"Ok, that's great."

* * *

"I'm glad to see SOME campers have a sense of patriotism!" the Sheriff shouts over the intercom later at lunch. "Instead of other camp activities, Marian Fitzwalter is gonna do a project on our president, John Plantagenet."  
  
I grit my teeth in an attempt at a proud smile.  
  
"All stand while I say the oath of allegiance to the President."  
  
I stand, and pretend to listen attentively to the new pledge that the president has made all his citizens recite at the sound of his name.  
  
_"I swear to obey the president, to love the president and to help the president, in order to be a good citizen. The president always knows best, and he will always do the best for our country and for me."  
_  
After he finishes, I go sit down near Robin and the other 'outlaws'.  
  
"Wonderful." Robin whispers in my ear. He touches my hand under the table, and I feel giddy. I had thought, due to his swift business-like manner last night that all the things he had done during the movie had been either a dream, or a sham.  
  
"You've made an enemy of the rest of the sane camp though," she whispers across the table, "In fact..." Joan winks and says much louder, "I don't believe how ignorant you are, Mara. I actually had some trust in you and NOW..."  
  
Will and Robin suppress grins, then pretend to calm Joan. "Come on, Joan, she's not worth it..." they all sit back down, shooting me false glares.

* * *

"Mara?" a familiar voice says.  
  
"Dave?"  
  
"Hey, Mara!" he hugs me happily, "Wow, Mara, you seem so... happy."  
  
I grin up at him. "Thanks... I think."  
  
"Seriously, what's happened to that sad little girl who I dropped off here?" Dave smiles, "I worried about you, Mara, but I can see I didn't need to."  
  
"I guess it's all because I made some friends." I tell him, "I've never really had good ones before."  
  
"Who are your friends, Mara? Your roommate?"  
  
Hell yeah.  
  
"Yep, and two other kids called Will and Joan too."  
  
"That's great!" he exclaims.  
  
I smile, and we talk for a while.  
  
Somehow...  
  
Somehow it's not the same anymore with Dave.  
  
I used to trust Dave with everything. Now that I have another real secret...  
  
At least it's not a bad one. At least I only have to feel bad about stealing things.

* * *

New home, new life, new problems. Mara heard her mother chat up yet another man from her place behind the bar. She deliberately did not look at the spectacle her mother was making of herself. Technically, eighth graders weren't supposed to be sitting in bars, but her mother knew the bartender. Anyways, who really cared? It was the kind of bar where everyone, including the bartenders were drunk. Mara stroked her stuffed elephant, which she had stuffed in her backpack that night when she had gotten ready for another night at the bar.  
  
Her mother was not someone Mara wanted to be around anymore. She had lost all the dignity she had ever held, selling herself to any man who asked. Mara had either been avoiding or fighting with her mother whenever she had the option. They had fought again a few hours ago about whether or not Mara was to stay at home or not. Mara had lost.  
  
Mara's mother left with the man she had been flirting with. Mara knew they were going to the man's abode, so walked back her apartment alone, whistling to herself.  
  
She petted her elephant. Rosie never talked to her anymore; she had stopped doing that in about fourth grade. Mara missed her conversations with her stuffed friend, but she supposed all the talks they had had were merely figments of her imagination.  
  
Mara opened the door to her apartment complex. She took the rickety old elevator to the new apartment she and her mother shared. It wasn't really a new apartment. The wallpaper was peeling off, the stove didn't work well at all, and the furniture smelt.  
  
Mara walked up to the TV and turned on a nature program. She watched about the mating habits of peacocks until her mother returned, drunk, and forced her to give up the remote so she could watch the shopping network.  
  
Mara hated the shopping network. There was too much jewelry, too many infomercials for her to stomach. Her mother sent her to bed, and Mara didn't bother to argue. She was too tired. It was around 3 o' clock anyway. 


	5. Canoeing

Hi guys... Please don't kill me for not having updated in so long...  
  
Exams.  
  
Anyways, I'll make up for it by telling you that this gets VERY fluffy later in this chapter.  
  
Au revoir!

PS. just to tell you, I wrote the sonnet at the end of the chapter...

* * *

I chew on my pencil. I'm sitting at a table in Nottingham public library, waiting for the damn internet to load.  
  
Robin's computer has a wireless card, and even though the computer is archaic, its internet is decent. He gets his connection from the wireless tower near the camp. He hacked into it and got a free connection, and I guess I got used to the fast connection. Now google is being stubborn, and the bottom of the web keeps on saying '_1 more item-loading'_. When it finally finishes, all I can do is wonder where to begin my research.  
  
"... I know, it's soo horrible."  
  
I listen to the chatter between two middle aged women. They seem to be talking about Camp Sherwood, and what they're saying isn't pretty.  
  
"Why does our town have to deal with demented children?"  
  
"It's supported by John Plantagenet..."  
  
"I know, but what does it matter? We don't want them defacing us?"  
  
"I heard there are homo-sexuals at that place."  
  
They both shudder in horror. I feel my fists clench in Will's defense.  
  
"That camp is no good. They have all sorts of children there, and none of them actually benefit our society."  
  
"I heard they take these vagabonds off the street. Some are drug addicts, some are going to die in a few months, robbers, retards, murderers..."  
  
"Murderers?"  
  
"Well that's what I've heard..."  
  
I gnash my teeth.  
  
"And the worst thing is they're using the Abbey of St. Mary's Hospital to house the camp."  
  
"But... they might... they might..."  
  
"No, the campers aren't even told of the existence of a hospital above them. And you know the Abbey is only used for half the patients..."  
  
"The ones who aren't going to get better..."  
  
I decide to ignore the rest of their conversation.  
  
I type words into the googlesearch, pretending to be working, as I force myself to ignore their judgmental prattle.  
  
_'John Plantagenet.'  
_  
'**Did you mean**: _King John_?' is written across the top of the webpage. I scroll down, and the second website is "_**President John Plantagenet, Leader of the Free World and Best President We've Ever Had."  
**_  
That's disgusting.  
  
I click on the link anyways, and force myself to read all of the patriotic gunk written there.

* * *

I return to my dorm in Camp Sherwood close to two hours later. Robin's nowhere to be seen. I sit on my bed and close my eyes, tired from gazing at the screen for so long.  
  
My eyes also hurt from all the crap I've been reading.  
  
I flop backwards onto the bed, and recount all the information I've found today.  
  
John was born in a small town in California. He was a nerdy little kid, while his brother was a member of the football team, a popular writer in the school newspaper, elected president of school council, and an A student all the while.  
  
It would be enough to make anyone jealous...  
  
The door opens, and Robin, looking exhausted, enters and flops facedown on his bed. From the tangle of blankets, Robin asks me how my day went. I tell him alright and ask him the same.  
  
"Terrible." he replies in a monotone voice.  
  
"Why?" I ask, "What happened?"  
  
"I had to go back to the hospital." He murmurs almost inaudibly.  
  
I get up and sit on his bed. "What happened?"  
  
"Just a checkup." He turns his face towards me, "I hate the doctors. I hate nurses. I hate needles. I hate everything about hospitals."  
  
I touch his shoulder, and that strange electricity flows up my arm and into my chest cavity, making my heart flutter.  
  
He rolls over and looks up at me with his emerald eyes. "Mara..." he whispers, and reaches up to my cheek and touches it.

* * *

We meet Will and Joan in the mess hall. There is a new addition to our table... Allan Adale. He sits next to Will, and they keep stealing furtive glances at each other. Robin and I smile at each other... it seems another romance is budding besides our own.  
  
Robin tucks into his salad. I do the same to my melted cheese sandwich. I notice Robin take something from his pocket.  
  
"Howdy, campers!" the sheriff shouts into his microphone, forcing all conversation to grind to a halt. "We're gonna have campfire tonight! And what are we goin' ta do?"  
  
"Have some fun!" shouts the population of the camp under the age of thirteen. At sixteen, and fifteen in Allan's case, we sit at our table and do our best to ignore the sheriff's ramblings.  
  
"And tonight, do we have a campfire for you or what?! So hurry up and eat, so y'all can go outside ta eat some marshmallows!"  
  
"Yum." Joan whispers sarcastically. We finish our dinner and traipse outside, all grumbling about the running of the camp.

* * *

"_Buuuuut the cat caaame back, they thought he was a goner, but the cat came back, he just wouldn't staaaay away-ay-ay-ay."  
  
_After the fifth chorus of that song, one tends to get a little irritated.  
  
Especially with about fifty tune-deaf eight year olds all singing along.  
  
"The Cat Came Back is really quite a violent song." Robin whispers to me, "This psychopath keeps finding ways to murder his poor little kitty."  
  
"Perhaps the cat deserved it." I whisper back, 

"Let's leave." I murmur after another rousing chorus.   
  
"Where to?" he asks.  
  
"The lake."  
  
He grins conspiratorially, "If we're caught..."  
  
"Oh come on..." I whisper into his perfect ear, "You're a notorious criminal, whose work has devastated some of the most powerful in America, and you're afraid of a little escaping?"  
  
He grins and catches my wrist in his slender, elflike fingers. We move to the outskirts of the firelight, and when no one is looking, we move into the darkness, furtively snaking between the trees. We reach the outskirts of the woods, and find the boathouse.  
  
"It's pretty here, with the moonlight..." Robin says quietly, "but it would be prettier over there." He gestures to the island near the center of the lake.  
  
I grab a two-person canoe and drag it towards the stony beach.  
  
"What are you doing, Mara?" he calls from the boathouse.  
  
"Get two paddles." I order, ignoring the question.  
  
He obliges, and with a crunch, we're off into the lake. The pale sliver- moon hangs over us, making Robin's hair silver in the light. Robin paddles diligently from the front of the canoe, splashing me playfully from time to time.  
  
"I'm usually afraid of water." he confides, "I can't hold my breath for more than a few seconds, so swimming is difficult... but somehow..."  
  
He looks at me with his extraordinary eyes, "Somehow... tonight is different... magical." He stops paddling, and maneuvers himself onto the floor of the canoe. I join him and our hands lace together, his graceful fingers caressing mine.  
  
Clouds cover the moon, plunging us almost into darkness. Rain arrives, the plops on the water reminding us of its existence. I can barely feel it.  
  
I wrap my arms around his neck.  
  
Our lips meet.  
  
Our kiss dissolves the rain, dissolves the lake, and the only thing in the universe is me and Robin. Together. His mouth tastes like chocolate.

* * *

The day was new, and Mara felt invigorated. She bid farewell to her hung- over mother, and set out for a day in the park.  
  
She was at an idealistic fourteen, just fourteen last week, and she was read to complete her English homework.  
  
It was Poetry that semester. They had covered haikus, couplets, ballads, and now they had started sonnets. Mara loved sonnets. The order they needed, the precision. Her life was so disorganized, so misplaced, that Mara found a solace in the sonnet that was strange for a girl of her age. When they had worked in pairs, Mara had ignored her jock-partner's lame cries to be included. She had whipped off a sonnet in just over twenty minutes, while it had taken the rest of the class two days to complete. And now they had to write a sonnet about love.  
  
Her pen scratched away at the paper for her bench at the park, and the poem came to her. It was perfect by the second hour of editing.  
  
She had a crush. On a boy who didn't know of her exsistance, but she still intended to slip the poem into his locker. She ripped the completed sonnet out of her notebook and read it over one last time...  
  
_"Your name, your voice, the things you do and say,  
  
All make my lovesick heart just skip a beat  
  
And since I love you, come what as it may,  
  
Without you I would never be complete.  
  
I sing your name before I go to sleep,  
  
And dream of you all hours of the night,  
  
I never knew my love could be so deep  
  
Just seeing you fills all my world with light.  
  
I do not know your feelings about me,  
  
If maybe I am just a friend to you,  
  
But in my dreams if we are meant to be,  
  
Then perhaps in the real world we are too.  
  
And so, dear friend, my sonnet to you ends,  
  
And my heart on your sweet reply depends."_  
  
Perfect. She raced home to put it in her schoolbag. 


	6. Celia Tuck

Hello, friends!  
  
I don't own Robin Hood, blah blah blah...  
  
So here's chapter six. Please review it.  
  
Have a nice day!

* * *

For once, Robin is up before me. He brushes my hair from my face, his slender fingers touching my cheek, my ear, my forehead, his touch leaving my face feeling...feeling something I can't really describe. Wonderful, beautiful, needed.  
  
I moan, semi-consciously. As I open my eyes, Robin sits on my bed, looking almost sad, but as he sees me wake, his face softens and he brushes my cheek with his lips.  
  
"So it wasn't a dream." I sigh, blissfully.  
  
"No." he replies, his green eyes twinkling. "I love you." He whispers in my ear.  
  
"I love you too." I bring my head up to kiss his cheek. His face is soft, with no trace of the acne most other boys have. "Why are you so perfect, Robin?" I ask, suddenly curious.  
  
"Hmm?" I suppose he didn't expect that.  
  
"You're perfect. Everything about you..."  
  
He half sighs, half laughs, "I'm far from perfect, Marian."  
  
I wrinkle my nose at his use of my full name, "Why'd you call me that?"  
  
"I don't know... it just seemed... appropriate, that's all" he touches my cheek again. "Marian is such a beautiful name." he gets off my bed, "And, I don't know... it just sounds right..."  
  
I get up out of bed and wrap my arms around his thin shoulders. "I never really liked the name Marian. It's what my grandmother always used to call me. But when you call me that..." we fall backwards onto his bed. "When you call me Marian... it does sound right. It feels like the name of a lover."  
  
"A lover, eh?" he says mischievously, his fingers entangled in my hair, "Well, well, we are getting racy."  
  
"Shut up." I tell him, and we kiss again. A perfect kiss, a flawless kiss...  
  
Just like him.

* * *

Breakfast is eggs and bacon, so greasy it almost slips off the plastic trays we are given. Robin decides to skip breakfast, and I copy him. He doesn't seem to eat much besides small amounts of salad and sometimes a slice of bread, and he always seems so uncomfortable at mealtimes. I join him in his fasting. We sit together, holding hands under the table.  
  
"So where were you guys last night?" asks Joan conversationally, flipping her pink hair. "I noticed you two sneaking off. Where did you go?"  
  
"Nowhere." I reply, sipping orange juice and squeezing Robin's hand.  
  
"Really." She remarks sarcastically. "You two are so in love. Just admit it."  
  
"Fine." He says. "We are. So what?"  
  
Joan stifles a joyful squeal. "That's so cute!!!"  
  
"Shut up." He growls, glancing at the Sheriff. "I'm gay, remember?"  
  
She raises an eyebrow and finishes her eggs.  
  
Will smiles at us. He too, has the glazed over look of a secret romance eating at him. He gazes over at Allan and sighs happily. "_L'amour_." he murmurs and runs his finger over Allan's ear. Allan shivers deliciously, closing his eyes and smiling blissfully.  
  
Joan scowls and murmurs to Robin, "I feel so left out. Will has Allan, you have..." she breaks off as a counselor walks by, "you have...err... Mark...and I have no one."  
  
I grin, knowing that 'Mark' will be my codename for a while.  
  
The Sheriff gets up, his considerable bulk jiggling with the effort of leaving his chair. He picks up his microphone, and shouts, "Well g'mornin' campers! What're we gonna do t'day?"  
  
"HAVE SOME FUN!!!" shouts the majority of the other campers. As usual, Joan, Will, Allen, Robin, and I do not take part in the hideous perkiness. Even the euphoria Robin and I share doesn't reach out that far.  
  
"Yes, ya will!!! Now, the kiddies with leave out of camp t'day are..." he reaches for his clipboard. "Marian Fitzwalter, Robin Fitzooth, Celia Tuck, and Guy Guisborne. Now, if y'all will follow me, y'all can get off ta whatever ya hafta do t'day!"  
  
That's funny. Before I was driven to the library by a counselor, I didn't ride the bus with other children.  
  
"You're leaving Camp Sherwood too?" I ask Robin.  
  
"Yeah, it's just a little thing I have to get done." He replies quietly, and gets up from the benches of the table.  
  
"See you guys later," says Allen timidly, looking up at us from his white-blonde bangs.  
  
I can see why Will has a thing for him. He is quite attractive. He's nothing compared Robin of course, but he does have some appeal with his long eyelashes and baby-blue eyes. Will and Allan look opposite. Allan is almost albino, his skin never tanning, his eyes very blue but with a small reddish ring around his pupils. His face has a mournful look about it, like he was dealt some great injustice in his childhood, which most likely is true. Will on the other hand, is the epitome of a strong, handsome, black man. He is tall, and perhaps too skinny, but he has a dignity about him, and his eyes...His eyes are an interesting color: a shade lighter than his mahogany skin. And yet, despite the contrasts in their appearance, they are a beautiful couple. The differences between them only highlight the fact that they are perfect for one another.  
  
Robin and I walk over to where the Sheriff had called us and we get into the white van synonymous with nutcases.  
  
Robin and I enter first and sit together on a bench. Across from us is a girl in a wheelchair, and Guy Guisborne sits in front of us. One of the counselors drives the van, and we back out into the driveway.  
  
"Hey Robbie," says Guy, a malicious smile on his ugly face. Robin sits erect, apparently trying to pay no heed to him. "Going to the hospital again, Scar-child?" he laughs a horrid laugh, "What'd you do this time? Faint of a salad overdose?"  
  
Robin closes his eyes as if he's in pain. After a few calming breaths, he turns his head to look out of the tinted windows.  
  
"Ignoring me, Faggot?" asks Guy, maliciously, "Is the little gay love-child gonna cry?"  
  
"Leave him alone, you ignorant bastard." says the girl in the wheelchair. Whoa... from her appearance, I had deemed her incapable of speech. I guess appearances here are deceiving. "Just because you're turned on by Robin, doesn't mean you need to project it on us."  
  
"Shut up and stop drooling, Celia. Like I would like a guy... No, I'm a real man, and at least I'm capable of having real sex, unlike you."  
  
"Gonna insult a handicapped girl now, Guisborne?" asks Celia rolling her eyes. "Well... I had the notion you were the least sensitive idiot in the world, but I guess I thought too much of you."  
  
"Go to hell." Robin says from the window.  
  
"Nope, sorry. I'm going straight to heaven, unlike you. You know why? Cuz I don't engage in the sinful behavior you do with Will Scarlet."  
  
"What do you know about God, Guisborne?" asks Celia quietly and dangerously. "I don't see you going to Church."  
  
"Well, I have a life," he declares, "And unlike you, I don't think faith entails going to see the Nuns each morning."  
  
"You don't have to do that. I only do because I'll join them someday... you just have to obey the Bible."  
  
"I do."  
  
"What about _'Love Thy Neighbor,'_ then?" I say, gazing into Guy's piggy eyes.  
  
Guy doesn't reply, because at that moment the bus stops, the doors open, and he walks haughtily off.  
  
"Thanks, Celia." Says Robin gratefully.  
  
"No Prob." She turns her head and looks at me. "Who're you?"  
  
"My name's Mara."  
  
"Well, you hit the nail on the head with that last comment." She smiles at me. Her teeth are crooked, and her body is twisted and stiff in her chair. Her dark eyes are magnified by huge glasses that she wears, but her face is a good face, a kind face. You could trust a face like that. "I'm Celia Tuck. It's nice to meet you."  
  
I'm shivering with anger. I turn to Robin, "Why'd he say those things about you?"  
  
"He has mental issues." says Celia. "He's got no idea how the things he says affect other people. That's why he's here."  
  
"Doesn't it bother you though, what he says?" asks Robin. He's shivering too, with anger or something else. I reach over and grab his hand... it's wet and sticky and red. He's been digging his fingernails into his palm.  
  
"Oh Robin..." I whisper.  
  
"I'm alright," he informs me. Celia looks over at us.  
  
"You're not gay, are you?" she says knowingly.  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
"No." she smiles, and though her face is not beautiful in itself, her smile is uplifting, joyous. I decide that Celia Tuck is well worthy of our trust. "And it did bother me, when he says those things. But God will forgive him. God understands that he doesn't understand about his actions, and one day He will teach him to be kind and compassionate."  
  
"I don't believe in God." Robin says quietly.  
  
"He won't mind." Celia tells him, "You have a kind heart, Robin, and that's what's important."  
  
The bus stops and the counselor helps Celia off. She smiles at us and pushes the lever on her wheelchair, propelling her into the church to visit her nuns.  
  
"I like her." Robin says.  
  
"Me too." I say, and rest my head on his shoulder. We sit like that for a while, until the bus stops again and Robin stands, looking drained. He exits the bus and walks towards the doors of the building. I shudder.  
  
Because Guy was right about one thing.  
  
Robin was going to the hospital.

* * *

Mara had been rejected. Her 'true love' hadn't met her by the willow tree by the banks of the Charles. She sighed a world-weary sigh and walked into her apartment where her mother was waiting.  
  
"Mom?" she said, surprised at her being home so early.  
  
"Mara, guess what?" her mother was a ball of happy energy, jumping about the apartment.  
  
"What?" She dumped her bag on the floor.  
  
"I've met the man of my dreams!"  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. He's called Brutus." Her mother sighed romantically. "He's wonderful!"  
  
"Cool." Mara said with little interest, "Is he rich?"  
  
"Is he ever!" her mother bent down to Mara, "I think our bad luck might just be ending, Mara. He asked us to move in with him!"  
  
"Mom?" Mara said with suspicion. "You've only just met him, right?"  
  
"Well wouldn't you just like to know." her mother said naughtily, "We're leaving tomorrow." 


	7. Problems

Hi.  
  
Sorry I took so long to update... sorrysorrysorry. Please don't kill me!  
  
The damn writer's block had me. anyways, here she is. Enjoy!

* * *

When I return from the library, the camp is almost empty, the other campers being off on a canoe race or something. I go up to my room, not wanting to join in.  
  
I think the canoe trip I already had was good enough.  
  
I sit at the chair near the windowsill and think about Robin. He's seems so perfect... yet his health is really worrying me now. He always is visiting the hospital, he never eats any fatty food, he can't run, he can't hold his breath... NO!  
  
Nothing's wrong with Robin! He probably just has asthma or something... yes... that's it.  
  
He never takes an inhaler.  
  
Nothing is wrong with Robin. He's perfect. I'm just paranoid after what happened to Mother.  
  
I remember...  
  
No. I don't want to remember. I don't want to remember any of it. I love Robin, and he'll be perfectly fine.  
  
There's a knock on the door.  
  
"Come in." I say, my voice worried.  
  
"Hey!" says Will, grinning at me and holding Allan's hand. "Can we come in? We wanna have some peace from Joan... She's getting on our nerves."  
  
"What's she doing?" I ask.  
  
"PMSing."  
  
I laugh. "Hey, leave her alone. PMS sucks."  
  
"She's too emotional for even ME." Will states. "And I have high tolerance of that sort of thing. She's currently sobbing because we'll have to leave in two weeks and not see each other for a year."  
  
"Well aren't you sad that Allan won't be around for a year?"  
  
"I am. But he only lives forty-five minutes from my house." Says Allan. So we won't have to worry too much."  
  
"Where do you guys live?"  
  
"You mean you don't know? I live in upstate New York. He does too." Allan tells me.  
  
"Really?" I say, "That's not too far from where I live. Boston."  
  
"Honestly? We all seem to live nearby!" Will says. "Joan lives in Connecticut, Allan and I live in New York, You live in Boston, and Robin lives in New Hampshire!"  
  
"What's that about my whereabouts?" Robin says from the doorway.  
  
"We were talking about where we all live. Maybe we could all meet sometime after camp ends."  
  
"That would be so much fun!" he says enthusiastically. "We could all meet in Boston."  
  
"Yeah!" I say, and wrap my arms around Robin's shoulders. "Oh gosh, that would be so cool."  
  
"Maybe we could meet on our own" Robin whispers to me.  
  
"Ohh..." Will sighs with jealousy. "Allan, I want some love!"  
  
Allan smiles and tugs at Will's hand, pulling him onto my bed. "Your wish is granted." He whispers into his ear, then brings his lips up to Will's. Their kiss is needy, but halting and nervous, a kiss that begs for more.  
  
I look up at Robin. He smiles, "I suppose you want some too?" he asks, and brings his lips to mine.

* * *

"No." Robin states later that evening, "No. We have to hack Cedric Milligan tonight."  
  
"Who is he, though?" inquires Joan, shaking her pink locks from her head.  
  
"One of John's most loyal supporters." I say. "He's managed to keep himself out of the press, but I found a list online, and he's in the top-ten.  
  
"Really?" asks Will. "then I suppose we get to work."  
  
They all bend over their separate computers and work. I, my job being finished, curl up with Robin's Robin Hood book and read away into the night. I'm just at the chapter that introduces Little John when I hear something downstairs.  
  
"Quickly! Get into your rooms!" I whisper, "I hear the Sheriff coming!"  
  
"What?" cries Robin. "How could anyone have ever found out?"  
  
Will, Joan, and Allan run out of our room. Robin and I jump into our beds, and pretend to be asleep, Robin's computer safely tucked under my bed.  
  
Our door opens and our eyes close.  
  
"I'm sure I heard them, sir." Says Guy's voice.  
  
"Well, they seem to be asleep." The Sheriff growls. "I don't want another false alarm from you again, Guy Guisborne."  
  
"Alright."  
  
And with that, they exit our room. Robin and I lie in silence for a long time.  
  
"That bastard." I say, wanting to spit all over him.  
  
"Shh..." Robin says, "We'll just have to be more careful next time."

"I suppose so."I murmur into my pillow.

"It'll be alright," he tells me, "I promise"   
  
"Goodnight." I say after another long pause.  
  
"Goodnight." He whispers, "I love you."

* * *

It happened suddenly, with no warning. The wedding went without a hitch, and Mara was the happiest she had ever been, living with Brutus. He was kind, handsome, rich, and he seemed to genuinely like Mara. Mara had never really trusted him, but, as he said, "She's never really had any man to trust." He had been determined to earn that trust.  
  
Her mother had just been ready to celebrate her second anniversary when it happened.  
  
The accident.  
  
Mara had been in the car with her mother on a shopping trip. It was lightly snowing, and the road was slippery.  
  
They had been talking about how much better life was, now that they had secured a perfect man.  
  
All Mara got from the accident was a broken arm. Her mother was not so lucky.  
  
She was dead.  
  
And Brutus blamed Mara. He wouldn't speak to her after the accident. Nothing. Mara could tell that he was angry with her for surviving All he did was cry.  
  
And one day, Mara found him on the kitchen floor. He had had a mental breakdown.  
  
The doctors said he would never be the same again.


	8. Wet

hapter 8: Re-edited and reposted! Yay!

Yeah. I like it better this way. The first version was total crap. This is only semi-crap.

Love and Hugs!

Sugarsprite

* * *

Robin disappears again to visit the hospital that afternoon. I pretend to have fun with Allan, Will and Joan, but it's not the same. We're all still half asleep from last night's antics and I don't feel whole when Robin's not here. He won't come back until after lunch, and I'm sick of waiting. Joan seems to understand.

"He'll be back before you know it, and hey, we can all go swimming!"

"Swimming?" I ask, thinking I've heard wrong, "I haven't gone swimming since..."

"I know, since Robin fainted that day." Joan rolls her eyes, "Honestly, just because he can't, doesn't mean you shouldn't."

"I-" I can't think of anything else to say. "I'm not really feeling like a swim."

"Come ON!" she cries in exasperation, "I have my PERIOD and I want to swim. It's ninety freaking degrees out! We're going to swim and I want to see you at the lake in fifteen minutes."

"Oh-ho... You got served!" cry the boys.

"You all shut up." I order jokingly. "Alright, I'll come."

Fifteen minutes later, I stand by the edge of the lake, testing the water with my big toe. I immediately shiver and decide I'll pass.

"Since when have you been a wimp?" asks Will from the water, "Come on in, it's not nearly as bad once you're wet."

"Mmph."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asks Allan from behind me, his sweet face in an unusual expression of sarcasm.

"Not today?" I say.

"Wrong!" cries Joan as she runs head on and pushes me into the lake.

"GAHHHH!" I cry as soon as I reach the surface. I look over at my pink-haired friend. "You'll pay for that, Joan Little!"

* * *

When Robin gets back, I'm still wet, even though it's almost eight o' clock at night. I smile at him from my bed, where I have been sitting and making a wet patch on the mattress, reading his book.

"How was the lake?" he asks half-heartedly, slumping onto his cot.

"Wet," I say, and shake my hair.

He says nothing, just gazes at the floor. I look at him more carefully. His eyes... they're different... red rimmed.

"Robin, you've been..." I look at him again, "You... you haven't been crying, have you?"

He turns away.

"Oh Robin... Robin, what's wrong?"

"Marian..."

"Robin, tell me!" I cry, "Tell me what's wrong. Tell me!"

"Mara, I can't." he says, tears appearing in his eyes. "Please..."

"Robin, what's wrong with you?" I ask, gazing into his green eyes which are overflowing with pearly tears.

"You can't ask me that, you just can't!" he sobs, standing up and pulling away from me. "Not now. Please, God, don't do this to me!"

"What are you talking about?" I cry, "Robin, I care about you! I need to know what's wrong!" All the merriment I had a moment ago is gone, crumbled into dust. He's angry at me. He, who's never lost his temper with anyone, is looking at me like I've hurt him. "Why are you crying?" I shout, a tear running down my cheek, "Why won't you tell me anything?! Why don't you TRUST ME?!"

Instead of shouting back at me, he curls into a ball and breaks into hard, gut wrenching sobs. I've seen boys and men cry many times, but him?

"Robin..." I get up and run to him, hugging him, kissing him, anything to stop him from weeping. Anything for him.

"Mara." he whispers, wrapping his arms around me and cries into my shoulder, "Oh Mara, why did I have to fall in love with you?" he asks.

I touch his hair, "It's alright... I'm sorry I shouted."

"I made you cry." He sobs, pulling me closer, "I made you cry."

"That's okay!"

"No it's not! No one should ever make you cry, Mara, no one!" He shouts, "Especially me! I swore I would never make ANYONE cry!!!"

"Robin, you aren't the first person to..." I say, hugging him tight.

"It's not that." He murmurs into my damp tee-shirt.

"What is it, then?"

"I-I've concealed horrible things from you, Mara." He says, pushing away and sitting on his bed. "Terrible things..."

"I-"

"I know I shouldn't have, I should have told you the first day... but... I didn't want you to treat me like some invalid." He stops, and wipes his tears away with the back of his hand. "Look at me, crying like some deranged two-year-old. You must think me a fool." He takes deep, calming breaths, and starts talking again. "I'll tell you... God, I'm sorry Mara. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright..."

"Listen, and after I'm done you can tell me if it's alright or not." he breaks off, takes a second to collect himself, then continues. "When I was seven, I had a severe viral infection that almost killed me. I remember missing a year of school, confined to bed. I sort of got better, well enough to get up and walk around... but... I've never really recovered from the illness... I get sick very often. I miss a lot of school and I spend months in the hospital at a time... I learned all my computer skills from being on bed rest..." he stops.

"What?" I ask.

"The virus attacks my heart."

"What do you mean?" I ask, incredulous.His heart? Surely not.

"I mean I have to go to the hospital all the time. I can't do any athletics. I can only eat certain foods. I have to take twenty pills a day. And now I have to go to a special clinic somewhere in Switzerland."

"Switzerland?"

He nods, tears streaming unchecked down his cheeks. "I'm leaving on Monday."

"Monday?"

"And you'll never know if I'll come back." He begins to cry again, putting his face in his hands. "I don't know how long I'm going to live..." his weeps much harder now, the sobs choking him. "And... I can't... let you stay... with me... because... I... love... you...too... much... for... that"

"Robin..." I say, "How the hell could you have kept that from me?"

"I told you... I..."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER?!"

"I... I'm so sorry."

"I don't care." I whisper. "I don't care. Just go away and leave me ALONE!"

"Mara... I..."

"I hate you. I HATE YOU. _I HATE YOU!!!!!!!_"

He looks at me, stunned. He tries to hug me, but I push him away, grab my stuff and stalk out of the room, into the hallway, down the elevator, through the doors, across the field, and to the boathouse.

I look out on the lake, where we had first kissed each other. Where I had found the person I though I had wanted to be with forever. And now...

I hate him.

He lied to me. He made me fall in love with him, then purposefully took my heart, ripped it out of me and tore it into shreds.

But yet...

Oh god, what have I done? What have I done?

He didn't ask to be sick. He loved me and... now...

I love him. I still love him.

I find myself crying. I find myself curling into a ball, my heart breaking inside of me. I find myself dragging the same canoe we had taken that night out into the water and paddling.

I curl in it and begin to cry. I miss him. I miss me. I miss everything. And now I'm remembering things that I'm not supposed to remember. I hate everything. I love everything... Oh, I don't know anymore.

All I can do is cry.

And sleep.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

Mara sat at the kitchen table, reading a poetry magazine. It was full of poems that made her smile, Limericks, ballads, haikus and [her favorite] sonnets, filled the pages of the magazine.

She heard footsteps on the stairs, and thought nothing of it, probably the nurse in charge of caring for Brutus.

Mara put down the magazine. She didn't remember the nurse coming today... in fact, yesterday she had overheard the nurse mention her aching head.

Mara stood up, taking the handgun from a drawer.

"Hello, Mara," came a voice from the doorway. It was Brutus, holding a Red Sox baseball bat.

"H-hello." Mara gripped the gun, hiding it from his view beneath the counter.

"What have you got there, poetry?" he asked, smiling. He walked over to the magazine and tore it in two. "Poetry's crap. Pure romantic crap." He scowled at her. "But you would know a lot about killing romance, wouldn't you, killing my wife."

"You're deluded." Mara declared. "I wouldn't kill my mother. I didn't kill my mother. I love her."

Brutus swung the bat at her head. Mara ducked, screaming.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm sorry, my dear." He said, swinging the bat again. "This is the only way to bring her back." Mara screamed again.

"Stop! Stop!" she cried, "I didn't do anything!"

"Goodbye, Mara." He said.

He lifted up the bat.

Mara took the gun in her hand and fired.


	9. Gray Mornings

I thought Mara and Robin needed a new name. Ohhh... it's so l33t!

And I also think Mara needs more development... in fact, I'm not happy with this story right now... I'm going to finish it. But it's annoying me. sigh

Oh well.

sugarsprite

* * *

"Mara?!"

"Mara??!!"

What... who's calling me?

"Mara, wake up!"

Why am I so uncomfortable?

"Please... Please wake up."

"Mmmph. Five more minutes."

"Oh, thank heavens!"

I open my eyes. They sting a bit, and I don't really understand what's going on. Why am I sleeping in a canoe? Why aren't I in my bed? Where's...

Robin. Leaving. Tomorrow.

Oh God.

"Mara, are you okay?" The person who roused me stiffens as I begin to cry. "Sssh, It's ok!"

"No... It's not."

He takes me in his arms, cradling my head. I look up at him...

Allen looks back at me. Thank god it's not Robin.

Robin.

I cry even harder.

Allen looks flustered, "Will! I found her!" he cries, obviously wondering what to do with me. I become vaguely aware of Will and Joan running over to me.

"Oh dear." says Will's deep voice.

"What're we gonna do?" Allen

"Get Robin over here."

"No." I say through my sobs, "not him."

"Oh dear." says Will again, "Looks like she found out too."

"What d'you mean?" I ask.

"I mean about Robin's... problem."

I sniff. "You... know about it?"

"He told us last night."

"But," Joan sighs, "We had already known something like that was wrong with him. Everyone here has something up. Like me, for example. Did you know my father's one of John Plantagenet's biggest supporters? That Robin, Will and I robbed him, and I can't tell my parents why they don't have money, and why I'm always on my computer, day and night."

"I've had bulemia for two years." Will sighs, "We all have issues here, Mara. But Robin's problem isn't terrible. He'll go off for treatment in Switzerland and come back as right as rain, you'll see. It could be worse." He shrugs, "At least he didn't kill someone, or something."

I begin to cry again.

"Hey, what's wrong?" asks, Will, obviously upset that I started crying again, "Please don't cry."

"But... he lied to me... and... he's going away... for so long..."

And I killed someone. I had to, but I still....

"Mara, get a GRIP!" shouts Joan. "He LOVES you! Do you know what he did to himself after you left? Do you even know why he told you? Stop crying and..."

"Stop it, Joan. Can't you see you're making it worse?" Will says, whacking her upside the head. I almost smile.

Allen, who hasn't said a thing the whole time, and has acted as my pillow/tissue, suddenly stands up, grabbing my hand. "C'mon, Mara.

I get up, tripping over my own feet, following Allen.

"Look, Mara, you really need to talk to him." he says urgently, "Please... He's over by the dock. Please... please, just go to him, please?"

I wipe my eyes with the corner of my sleeve and walk over towards the dock.

I see Robin off from a distance. He's hunched over, his feet in the water, looking down into the depths of the lake.

I walk up to him and sit down.

"'Lo."

"'Lo."

We sit in silence for a while, looking at the lake.

"I'm sorry." he murmurs so quietly I can barely hear him.

"I'm sorry too."

Silence again.

I tentatively lift my hand and snake it over towards his. Slowly, ever so slowly, I let my fingers touch his hand.

He looks over at me.

We fall into each other's arms at the exact same time.

We're both crying a little. We're both a little hurt. We're both a little scared.

"I wish I could stay," he says into my hair. "I want to stay with you."

"No." I say, "You have to go. You have to get better."

He nuzzles my neck, "I know."

"And we'll meet up again. I live near you. We'll meet up and..."

"And we'll get married." he smiles at me, "Won't we, Mara?"

I pretend to think about it, but I know the answer, "We will." I declare.

He stands up, grabs my wrists and spins me around, laughing, until we collapse in a heap.

"And we'll have a hundred children!" he declares, laughing.

"Just as long as you go through the childbirth."

The kiss he gave me there was the best yet. It was filled with relief, happiness, and a sadness so great it was like a silent despair, and we kissed for so long that we had to break it off because we had both run out of air.

"I would have a hundred children for you, Robin." I smile. "Just come back to me healthy, ok?'

"Of course." He says.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Then I'll have your hundred children." I say, smiling at him.

"How about two children instead?"

"Two's good."

* * *

Mara refused to talk to men. Men. They disgusted her, repulsed her, made her want to vomit.

Which was why she was so horrified to find she was being assigned a new caseworker. A male caseworker. One known as Dave Mantosky.

She had refused to talk to him. His gentle but firm nature vexed her, his promises not to talk to her if she didn't want to annoyed her, his kind nature was a façade, for sure.

After all, what had THEY ever done for her?

She was not willing to think about it. They had gotten blood on her hands, that's what.

Men are rats.

Men are rats.

Men are the fleas that depend on the rats for their pathetic survival.

She would never talk to one of them, never look at them willingly, and NEVER fall in love with one.


	10. Friend

Godforsaken writers block had me in a bind. I apologize forever for doing this to you.

By the way, look forward to the upcoming parody surprise from me and the Vice President of the Fluff Club, Black Pixie. It'll be magnificent.

Alrighty, here's the chrismahanukwanzicka present from yours truly!

sugarsprite

* * *

He left on a van in the middle of the afternoon Monday. I managed to cry even more than usual that day.

I feel like a shell. An empty shell with no brain, no insides and especially no heart. I find myself looking out onto the lake on the last day of camp while everyone signs yearbooks and generally makes a fool of themselves.

"Hey Mara," sighs Joan, sitting down next to me, "You okay?"

I smile and nod, "I miss him."

She grins, a sort of half smile, "I miss him too." she sighs quietly, "I've loved him since I met him, in a way."

"What…?" I ask, astounded. She loved my Robin?

"No, no, not like that, " she exclaims, wiping her eyes, "He was…is… like a brother to me. I'm not really into guys, myself."

"Huh?"

She shakes her head, "Do you have any gay-dar at all?" she laughs, "I fit about all the stereotypes. Robin's cute in a boy-sort-of-way, but their whole biology really freaks me out. A lot. Come on, that's GROSS!"

I laugh, "Yeah, it's pretty gross. I don't like to think about it… but some parts of them are nice."

"How far have you gone with him, to be so obsessed?"

"Joan! You really have NO tact!" I cry, half-truthfully, half-jokingly, "and whaddaya mean, so obsessed!"

Joan rolls her eyes, "Oh come on! All you do all day is obsess over him. I know you love him a lot, but still," she swallows, "you shouldn't let him be your one source of happiness. You need to find another outlet."

My mind immediately flees to poetry. I haven't touched it since Brutus, but I've been craving a pen and paper to write down my thoughts.

"Another outlet?"

"Yeah. Like me and my sketching." She rolls her eyes, "Or, you know, possibly friends."

I look up at her, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I guess, ever since you and Robin got married-"

"We're not married!"

"You discussed it! Anyways-"

"How do you know we discussed it?"

"He told me! ANYWAYS…"

"He TOLD you?"

"Shut UP!" she explodes playfully, "ever since you and Robin started dating you've been obsessed with him!"

Obsessed?

"You ignore me and Will and Allen all the time."

I never thought so…

"If he walks by, and we're talking, you just leave us, mid-sentence, then go off and grab hold of him and get all lovey-dovey."

"Joan… I…" I stop because she looks really upset. "I'm sorry… I guess I just never realized."

"It's okay." She says, grudgingly. "Do you wanna come over to my house after camp is over?" she asks, blushing.

"I…" I break off, trying to stop apologizing. "I'd love to! I'll ask my social worker when he visits."

She grins, and we both walk back to my room.

* * *

**click click****

* * *

From: **

**To: **

**Subject: **Hey, Mara

**Attachments:** A76ge3kmzXxkj4590Sbk

* * *

Hi—

I arrived yesterday. It's really weird here. Like- cleaner than the camp, with a bunch of kids from all over the world all with different issues. I have this room all to myself with a big ass computer, and a tv with a dvd player. I have this therapist too, who is cool, I guess, but he speaks absolutely no English. Which is awkward.

I'm learning how to speak Swiss German, which is like regular German, except it's pronounced differently. I've heard from some people that the language differs from village to village.

How are you and the others doing? I've decided to make Will in charge of the hacking, and Joan in charge of keeping anyone from figuring out who R0b1n H00d is. I think I'm going to make M4r14n (you) the one in charge of picking different projects. So it's like, you're all equally important. If I get any new ideas here in Switzerland, I'll e-mail you. None so far, and I think the e-mail is moderated. I had to build a firewall around my e-mail service so I could write this, and I want you to delete this message with the program I attached to this e-mail. It'll remove all traces of this e-mail for the computer.

I think about you all the time I'm alone, which is a lot. I miss you so much, my darling. I miss you I miss you I miss you. I can't wait until this is over so that we can be together. I love you so much.

-Robin

A76ge3kmzXxkj4590Sbk 


End file.
